Holly Moore

A solution I've offered before is to tear the tip currency in half, give half to the server before the meal, so the server knows what to expect and, therefore, how much attention to pay the table. At the same time he realizes that he will not have spendable money until the meal ends and the diners are happy with the service. Only then will they turn over the other halves of the bills. The tipper, if dissatisfied with the service, can withhold one or more of his halves of the bills. Yes he loses that money. But that is not the point as the tipper is leaving a lesser tip not because he is cheap, but because the did not feel he received good service. Therein lies the beauty of this approach. The money intended for a tip based on good service has been spent by the tipper - he can never get it back. The server only gets to keep what he merits based on the level of his service. The remainder is in limbo never to be spent by either party. The drawback to this plan is finding a method to cut the currency perfectly in half as anything over half can be turned in at the bank for full value. I had also considered placing the tip in escrow. But why spoil ones meal by having to deal with a lawyer before and after?

Embarrassing stuff out of the way first - I had to Google Rothko. But once I figured out who he was, I like his art, may even recognize a few of his works. I also really liked my meals at Grant Achatz's Trio to the point that I giggled with delight. I am not all cheez whiz and Norman Rockwell though I do maintain that places like Tony Luke's and Red's Eats deserve Michelin Stars. Agreed some good things came out of Nouvelle Cuisine and concede that not all of them contained raspberry vinaigrette. My problem is the it all looked too easy - that many a cook wanting to be a chef just combined the unexpected and labeled it Nouvelle Cuisine. Nouvelle Cuisine had more pretenders claiming to be serving it than any other culinary evolution - taking credibility away from the relatively few chefs that understood what they were doing.

My memory of Nouvelle Cuisine - A bunch of cooks throwing things together, just to be different and without regard to culinary basics. Every once in a while, like the chimpanzee writing a sentence, they got it right.

It is quite possible to be both a "critic" and an "enthusiast" though I prefer the term reviewer to critic. Back when I was writing my column for the Philadelphia City Paper and now, with my website, I defined my mission as finding good to great places for people to eat. In my newspaper days my stance was that until Philadelphia ran out of good dining experiences (or great ones) my column inches were too valuable to squander writing about bad places. There is no mandate that a reviewer or critic must write about bad experiences as long as one is up front about it with readers. I can limit myself to restaurants I can recommend and still write honestly and credibly. PR types are tools for the writer. They can keep the writer informed of what is happening at a restaurant and set up interviews or get questions answered. If one writes about such things, a PR person also can keep the writer aware of restaurant events, promotions and such. After writing for a while one gets to know the restaurant PR people - who can be trusted and who is all hype. But, even with the trusted ones, it is as President Regan says, "Trust but verify." Depending on the PR person, anywhere from eighty to a hundred percent of what they provide is useless. Where writers go too far with PR types is when they ask them to set up freebies or when they simply cut and paste from a release into a column.

Goblet half full or goblet half empty. If it happens to me and if I notice it at all, I'll think neat trick. Unless the server has proven him/herself to be otherwise ditsy, I'll enjoy a professional server's style and competence. Not my job to play parent-child and tell the server, "I don't want you to screw up. Please write our orders down."

There is a combination Louisiana Road Food Festival and Oyster Jubilee going on in New Orleans the weekend of April 4th and 5th. Events include construction of the worlds longest oyster poor boy by local restaurants and a regional LA food festival that brings in restaurants from around Louisiana. Proceeds from the food festival benefit Cafe Reconcile which gives kids who wouldn't normally have the opportunity or inclination a chance to learn the restaurant business.

Showmanship! Why step on a server's shtick? Management would have likely put an end to it if the server was screwing up.

A little over half way through the first episode and the "confessionals" have me reaching for the remote and its mute button. A new drinking game in the making. A beer whenever a participant says how great a chef Marco is and a shot whenever a participant says how intimidated they are by Marco. Enough with the kettle drums, too.

For the record, Parc is Steven Starr's bistro on Rittenhouse Square. The Starr organization seems to place great emphasis in developing a quality service staff.

Had breakfast the morning at Philadelphia's Parc, off Rittenhouse Square. The food was very good. Service was poor, though the floor management was on the ball. 1. It took a few minutes for someone to offer me coffee. My expectation at breakfast time is to be offered coffee within a minute or two of being seated. I'd say this was about five minutes. 2. I ordered orange juice, eggs benedict (Have been craving them since the Top Chef quick-fire), and coffee. I asked if the the eggs benedict came with the lyonnaise potatoes. The server paused to consider and then said no. I ordered a side of potatoes. 3. A runner brings me the eggs benedict with potatoes on the same plate and also the side order of lyonnaise potatoes. I sent the separate side order back to the kitchen. 4. No orange juice. I try to catch my server's eye, but no luck. The manager sees though and, after inquiring if I needed anything, brings me the orange juice. 5. My coffee cup is empty. The server had been by the table a few times, but no refill offered. Again I do my obvious looking around bit and a different manager comes by and chases down my server to bring coffee. 6. I give what I believe to be a universal signal that I'm finished - knife and fork together on the plate and I start reading my newspaper. At the time my coffee cup is again running on empty. Five or so minutes later the server comes byasking if I am finished. "Yes. Check please." No offer to refill my coffee. I decide not to ask. 7. The check comes to $18 plus tax. I leave a $3.00 tip. Normally it would have been $4.00. I'm guessing that the service never noticed my little gesture - either figuring $3 for breakfast was fine, or that I am simply a lousy tipper. In this situation, how much of an obligation do I have to the server - to contribute to his standard of living? Should I have tipped 20%, because that is expected? Should I have left a note with my 15% saying the service was unsatisfactory so he would not think me cheap? Or should I have stiffed the guy or left a more communicative 10%?

You'll be reasonably close to Owensboro, the Moonlight Barbecue and a bunch of other great barbecue restaurants. There is also a great BBQ festival in Owensboro every year. It also shouldn't be that far a drive to the Beaumont Inn in Harrodsburg. Country Ham aged for at least two years before slicing. I've never had better. And Gus's Fried Chicken in Mason TN. If you can handle spicy chicken it is well worth the drive. You're in for some great eating.

Wow - I had no idea. Well eaten. And not a fancy glopped up half pound burger on brioche bun in the bunch.

Sorry if you took it that way Sam, but my statement was in response to the point you raised: and to my point that not everyone shares the same motivation. In no way was it intended as a personal poke - big or little. I would also say, using your comparison above, that Tom Coliccho as a chef is closer in stature to one of the top 1% of 1% of chefs as opposed to being just one of 1000 chefs working in a regional market. My objections leading to my jumping into this thread are some of the positions taken such as: 1. A chef who appears in a commercial is a prostitute selling out for vulgar money. 2. Tom Colicchio couldn't possibly like Diet Coke because a poster doesn't like Diet Coke and therefore Diet Coke is crap. 3. Tom Colicchio was taking a cheap shot at Grant Achatz and is a bad person for doing so. Many celebrities, including many celebrity chefs have worked extremely hard - paid a lot of dues to achieve their stature. Product endorsements are a perk of celebrity. Of the wide range of sponsors out there, the Coca Cola company is about as powerful and popular a brand name with which one could associate. And as Grant seems to realize, sometimes a Diet Coke commercial is just a Diet Coke commercial. In the interest of full disclosure, Diet Coke is my backup soft drink when Canada Dry Diet Ginger Ale is not available - I am speaking to you, US AIR. Diet Coke is an acquired taste, like fine scotch or South Carolina mustard based barbecue sauce, that not everyone is capable of appreciating.

Naivete and disagreement are not the same. Having worked in marketing for ten years including a few years as an account supervisor for an advertising agency, I probably have a better understanding of commercials and celebrity endorsement than many on this board. Better known celebrities receive many more offers than they accept. One way some celebrities screen such offers is how it will affect their image. Another is whether they believe in the product. Another is which pays the best. For some celebrity endorsers money is not the prime motivator. Sometimes the endorsement is a favor for a business associate or a friend. Sometimes the endorsement is an opportunity for heavy national exposure either to expand one's celebrity or to remind people that one is a celebrity. And sometimes it is all about the money. Some opera singers would likely worry if such an endorsement would detract from their credibility - both among their peers and their public - and decide not to associate their image with a faux Italian restaurant chain.

Assertions based on one's stereotypical judgment of a group are wrong as often as they are correct. Celebrities are not all this or all that. Celebrities who do commercials are not all this way or all that way. Many celebrities will only endorse products they believe to be good or, at least, products that will not detract from their image. Ah, that old, reliable streetwalker comparison. Damning, trite, so easy to apply, especially when not face to face with the accused - even better when one is anonymous on an internet discussion forum. How is taking money for endorsing a product the same as taking money for a sexual service? One is legal, one is not. One is safe, one is dangerous. One does not risk the spread of disease, one does. One society accepts, one society generally finds abhorrent. Then it is the exchange of services for money that proves prostitution? Should I expect my doctor to throw in a happy ending with my prostate examination?

Greetings Toby, Congrats on an exciting project. I'm in Nashville every other week and will search your place out when I end up staying overnight. Have you anticipated the intimidation factor? You are offering Nashville a whole new level of drinking. Will there be an educational. marekting, PR process to help customers choose from seven ices, much less the rest of your cocktail adventure? That may be key in generating regulars.

Gotta say, that is the first pit master I have ever seen wearing a plastic protective hat. I think that is against the law in North Carolina barbecue joints.

The Carolinas are easy. Just get off where there is a smallish town, especially a county seat, within a few miles of the Interstate. You'll find good barbecue and/or home cooking in most of them. I generally look for the town square or city hall / court house. Almost always one or more home cooking joints within walking distance. If all else fails, stop by the fire or police department. That has never failed. Same might work in Georgia. Don't know Florida that well, but what I do know is more developed meaning it is harder to find the good food among the plastic Some so-called tourist traps can be both fun and good eating. There are misguided souls that call Red's Eats a tourist trap. Roadfood has a website too. Much more current than their books. If you join Roadfood, they have a system to download their recommends to a GPS. Come to think of it, HollyEats - Eating the South also has a bunch of listings along your route. Finally look for opportunities to drive a hundred miles off the Interstate system without going too far off course. Much more interesting and much better eating.

A server who considers customer confrontation to be acceptable conduct is better suited for a New York City deli or a prison cafeteria line. A server who challenges or even tactfully questions a customer on the amount of a gratuity offends hospitality and has no place in a restaurant which includes hospitality as part of its mission. Just as a customer has the responsibility of respecting the server as a professional, the server has the responsibility, as a professional, to treat customers as guests and to not do anything that would take away from an enjoyable dining out experience. Afraid I don't get your point. Hospitality and dining without confrontation are not unreasonable expectations of a restaurant and its servers. Providing hospitality without confrontation places no stress on a server's wellbeing or rights as a person.

I don't believe there is any way such an inquiry can be made tactfully and if you will pardon my "Upstairs, Downstairs" attitude, it is not the server's place to do so.

Actually I summed it up as BOTH the customer can afford it AND the customer knows when ordering it that he will be paying a gratuity on the $200 bottle of wine as part of the total check - assuming that he buys into today's restaurant culture. Based on the "$50 vs $200 bottle of wine takes the same degree of service rationale" - if I am at the Palm I should tip the same whether I order a five pound lobster or linguini with red sauce??? Logical on Vulcan perhaps, but not in Philadelphia. I appreciate the custom of tipping in that it gives me a degree of control over a server's earnings based on the service I receive. I go to a restaurant expecting to pay, give or take, a 20 percent gratuity. I can remember one occasion where I left no tip and other occasions where, because of service, the tip has been more or less than 20 percent. I also avoid USA restaurants that impose a service charge unless they will waive it and I do ask. And, as related earlier in this thread, I can become irrationally vengeful if a server chases me down to question the gratuity I chose to leave.

and What's on second... The selling price is the selling price and the tip is based on that. Just as the amount of a tip is the customer's option, so is the host's decision to overpay for a bottle of wine. Beyond that, there are all sorts of formulas for arriving at a bottle of wine's selling price. In an enlightened restaurant the formula you suggest might be applied to a cheaper bottle of wine, but the wine selling for $200 might have cost the restaurant $125. The restaurant is willing to give up percentage points to increase dollar profits... And to build customer loyalty and a reputation for value.

I think that about sums it up... the customer has the money, the server should expect a cut. The amount of work is not relevant. ← Following that example, then if I have the means, I should be happy paying $50 for the steak on the menu priced at $25. No, I don't buy that. ← Who's on first? My "A" plus your "B" does not equal your "C". How does paying $200 for a $200 dollar bottle of wine compare to paying $50 for a $25 steak? ToweringPine - A server can expect a 20% tip on a $200 bottle of wine, but the server's only recourse if the tip is less or nil, is sharing his disappointment privately with fellow servers and/or punching out a 50 lb bag of flour in the storeroom.

Yes, it is the luck of the draw. But it could also be because the one server possessed the knowledge and skills and built the needed rapport to upsell the customer. Like any salesperson on commission, that server knew that the more he increased the check the higher his tip. Beyond that, for the servers, it should average out over the course of the week or the month. If it doesn't one starts to wonder why one server sells far more bottles of expensive wine than another. I'd also suggest that most people spending $200 for a bottle of wine have the means and mindset to add the extra $30 tip. A somewhat related question - with the hard times that are a coming are customers back-peddling on the tip - rounding down instead of up - returning to 15 percent from 20 percent? Interesting question as to the BYOB server. Perhaps there are other balancing factors - higher food check average, more tables in a station, better income throughout the week as opposed to just weekends or corkage fees make up enough of the difference. Why are good servers attracted to BYOB's if their earnings are going to be higher at a comparable restaurant that serves wine?

I've always really liked breakfast at the Down Home Diner. It is one of the best breakfasts, if not the best non-hotel breakfast, in Center City - as good as one can find most anywhere in the South. Especially good are their country ham and eggs, scrapple and eggs, biscuits, sausage and rich man's gravy, corned beef hash and, if Jack puts it back on the menu, his Northernfied biscuits, ham and red eye gravy. Only thing I will grant is that the diner runs and tastes better when Jack is on-site and running things as he is now.